Questioning everything

Write4Fun: Scam?

When I was young and impressionable, I was obsessed with, yup, poetry. So it seemed only natural that I should enter one of the many Write4Fun comps in Australia. I was a paranoid kid but all of the worries vanished as I stared at the poster. $1000 was the prize. As quickly as I could I wrote up an admittedly, terrible short story about the olympics! Obviously I didn’t win but I got a letter from Write4Fun. It basically read that, I could have my story published in a book for around $60-70! My parent was unfortunately very stingy so I got a pat on the shoulder and a You tried. For a while I entered every competition in the hopes that I could win $1000 cash. Of course I didn’t win.

The book is grossly overpriced for a not-for-profit organization and interestingly enough Write4Fun is owned by the Australasian publishing group, a known scam. Fairtrading NSW includes The Australasian Publishing Group is its list of vanity publishers. According to Fairtrading NSW: The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs, South Australia issued a warning against this group. This vanity publisher obtains stories from students for a school short story competition offering the chance of winning a prize. The students are then notified that their story is considered worthy of publication and for $65, they can purchase a hard bound copy. A photograph and a dedication can be included for an extra $25.

This is where it goes, well, skewed. While researching on how write4fun is a scam I realised that I wasn’t the only person who was doubting the authenticity of this competition. Many other participants and usually, parents had doubted that this was an actual not-for-profit event. Basically if the prize is $1000, and let’s say 100 000 children enter each year and let’s say, only 1 000 parents paid for their child to have their story published in a book. So 1000 x 70 =70 000. Write4Fun is a textbook example of a Vanity Publisher. According to Fairtrading NSW: These people want you to believe that they will make considerable efforts to market your published work. Yet despite the inflated price you pay, they have no real interest in the success of the book. Their sole concern is the money you pay to either have it published or purchase a copy of the work. They employ various methods to drum up trade

In short, Write4Fun is, simply, just a vanity publisher trying to make money off a scam and nothing to base you or your child’s self-worth off.